Articles in Politics
Sara’s News Roundup 1/3/10
The Best and Worst of 2009
Bent Alaska’s Top 9 Posts for 2009
The ‘summer of hate’ against the non-discrimination ordinance was the real top story, but the most visited post on Bent Alaska is the humorous letter Wasilla Gays to Levi: We’re here with almost 7,000 hits.
The other Bent post that went viral this year, about Wayne Anthony Ross calling us degenerates, was crossposted on the national blog Pam’s House Blend. Likewise, the only ordinance post from Bent that got national attention, No Dead Queers, was picked up from the Blend diary.
Other top posts were on entertainment (gay man on The Alaska Experiment), homophobia (The Antichrist is Coming, and He’s Gay!), transgender (Kelly’s Story), and Sarah Palin. The lists of LGBT organizations and businesses were top posts again this year, perhaps because so many reporters want to interview queer Alaskans.
All of the top posts on LGBT issues in Fairbanks, Juneau and Homer involve students or schools, although that may be a coincidence. The top MatSu post is Levi, of course.
Top 9 in ’09
- Wasilla Gays to Levi: We’re here
- Palin’s AG Pick Called Gays “Degenerates”
- Where to find LGBT Alaska – Organizations
- Discovery Channel Discovers Gays on The Alaska Experiment
- No “Dead Queers” means No Discrimination
- Palin Supports Gay Rights? (still a top post in 2009)
- Kelly’s Story: A Transgender Christian Woman (unavailable, at her request, because her church leaders made her life miserable when they recognized her.)
- The Antichrist is Coming, and He’s Gay!
- Where to Find GLBT Alaska – Business List
Top post quoted by Alaskan sites:
Top Fairbanks posts:
Top Juneau post:
Top Homer post:
Top Mat-Su post:
Sara’s News Roundup 12/27/09
Sara’s News Roundup 12/20/09
RuPaul spoofs Palin with Going Vogue
“(T)his time she’s “Going Vogue!” Watch out, Grandma Palin. Ru’s got on her red anorak and she’s ready to govern! And I’m guessing Ru knows her way around a lumberjack. Plus, I’m sure Ru also knows all about laying some serious Alaskan pipeline.”
AK student to Uganda President: anti-gay bill a grave injustice
by Lauren in Juneau
Dear President Museveni,
As you know, the current proposed legislation titled “The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009” has caused outrage in countries outside of your own, especially among the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) community world-wide. As a proud supporter and member of said community, I believe that this legislation will be detrimental to the people of Uganda and inevitably do more harm than good when applied.
I admit to being a student from the United States of America, where we have a wide base of freedoms, and that our cultures, norms, and practices are, in some respects, vastly different, and that my input here may seem arrogant and presumptive, but I would like to voice my opinion on your country’s upcoming decision on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009. I believe in basic human rights that include things like the rights to food, water, shelter–things that would ensure survival of a person and enable them to thrive. With these I also believe that the right to love is one of God’s greatest gifts to man, and that there should not be a regulation over what that relationship should look like between consenting adults. Whether you are homosexual or heterosexual should make no difference; it is as God designed you to be.
I believe in building community within our peoples, nations and world, and consider my true community to consist of all countries. I don’t limit myself to only the United States of America, because of the arrogance that implies. I tell you this because I feel deeply for my neighbors, and though your country is across an ocean and thousands of miles away, I would like to personally foster this feeling between your people and me. It is in the spirit of community that I write to you. I believe that this bill would destroy what you have striven so hard to build, a progressive country that happens to lie in the heart of Africa. I know that you believe in fighting against social injustice, and this bill would be just that: a grave injustice against the LGBT people. To me and my conscience, I could not allow this to go on without protest.
Mr. President, you have built up a very beautiful country, one I would love to visit and experience. Unfortunately, I would not be able to be as safe as possible if the bill passed because of my sexuality, and neither would the people who already live in Uganda. This bill would destroy the harmony you have fought to bring through your administration. I realize that this bill has its justifications, one of them being a call for HIV/AIDS control, but I do not believe that this legislation is the best way to bring it under control. Killing off the homosexual people would not solve the problem presented by the virus. Indeed, it may only stress the situation to a breaking point. As an AIDS-awareness activist, I fear that it would only negate all the progress you have made in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
I applaud you, Mr President, in the transformations you have enacted on your people and your country. I sincerely applaud the efforts you have taken, the great lengths you have gone to in order to better yourself and the people around you, but I believe that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 would only undermine all your great work and turn back the clock on your administration.
Very truly yours,
Lauren
Juneau, Alaska, USA
Assembly demotes Ossiander, chooses Flynn as Chair
- As chair, she overruled a motion to limit repetitive testimony and instead allowed hundreds of religious opponents to preach anti-gay hate at the hearings.
- She allowed Wasilla residents to testify on the Anchorage measure, dragging out the hearings for months.
- In her comments before the vote, she admitted that LGBT people face prejudice and discrimination in Anchorage and need protection, then voted against the measure anyway.
- She could have been the deciding vote against the mayor’s veto, but instead she chose a legacy of caving in to pressure and supporting an agenda of hate.
Do you give to the (anti-gay) Salvation Army?
If you’ve been in a grocery story or mall recently (and who hasn’t?), you have seen and heard the Salvation Army’s Christmas bell-ringers collecting donations for charity. Straight bell-ringers, because the Salvation Army does not hire gays.
And many gays do not give to the Salvation Army, choosing to give money to charities that do not discriminate against us instead of those that do.
In addition to not hiring gays, the Salvation Army actively lobbies for anti-gay laws, calls gay couples with children ‘pretend’ families, and promotes celibacy as the only option for gay Christians.
But the Salvation Army is not the only option for giving. Queer Alaskans who want to donate to nondiscriminatory charities have many choices. Three local charities with good records are Beans Cafe and homeless shelter for adults and Covenant House for homeless youth, both in Anchorage, and the Street Outreach and Advocacy Program for homeless kids in Fairbanks.
The Salvation Army works on a much larger scale, and some gays and allies say that justifies their donations.
Do you put money in the Salvation Army buckets?
Welcome to Bent Alaska
Hello, Internet visitors! Welcome to Alaska’s LGBT blog. If you’re here to read the Letter to Levi or another linked post, thank you for coming to the source. Please stay a while and look around, get to know Bent and Alaska’s LGBT community.
Alaska is an amazing state, and we love it. Yes, we’re a little behind in terms of gay rights. (OK, more than a little.) We’re working on that. Bent will keep you up to date with our political efforts, introduce you to the people and events of LGBT Alaska, and share the lighter side of being queer on the Last Frontier.
Do you have a question about LGBT people in Alaska? Do you have a tip or an issue you want us to cover? Leave a comment below the post or write to the contact address in the column along the right side of the blog, and I’ll get back to you. (If you have a media request to interview gays in Wasilla, I’ll add you to the waiting list, but don’t hold your breath.)
While you’re here, this is the perfect time to start planning your gay vacation to Alaska, staying in LGBT-owned B & B’s, sailing with gay cruises, and touring the wild backcountry – the real Alaska – with our gay and lesbian adventure guides. For more info, see the LGBT Alaska Travel page under our Everything LGBT Alaska resource list.
If you like what you see here and want to stay in contact, please bookmark Bent Alaska, or subscribe to the posts in email or RSS.
Thanks for visiting us on the queer frontier. Come back soon!
